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I notice it has been almost a year since I have posted on this forum. "Life" got in the way! I have continued to visit and read weekly though. LOVE this forum and really enjoy reading all the journals. I am starting this journal because i am getting ready to set up a second tank.

I currently have a 46 gallon bow front that has been up and running for a little over a year. (Pic in my signature) I have had some changes since I last posted. I lost 5 of my Harlequin Rasboras. Strange situation. I bought two groups of 4 harleys. I only have a 5 gallon quarantine so I couldn't get them all at once. I had them all for several months when all of a sudden 4 of them died within a week. I figure it was bad stock. All other fish were fine. Then all of a sudden one more died about a month later. This was about a month ago and the remaining three are doing fine and I plan to up their school again.

Since I last posted I have added 2 apple snails, 3 German Blue Rams and an Angel fish. The GBRs I have had for about 3 months and are doing great. the Angel I have had for a little over a month. He is still small, about the size of a quarter, but doing great. So my current stock is:
1 male Golden Sailfin Mollie, 2 Ottos, 2 male Fancy Guppies, 3 Harlequin Rasboras, 9 Neon Tetras, 5 Panda Corys, 3 German Blue Rams, 1 Angel, 2 Apple snails.

I work at a e-commerce business that sells fish supplies and aquarium supplies. I am like a kid in a candy store! One of my co-workers had a tank that was given to her that she never found the desire to set up. She asked me if I wanted it. She said she didn't know what size it was but I could have it for free. Of course I jumped at the chance. I figured it was probably a 10 gallon and it would be a good quarantine tank. Imagine my surprise when she brought it to work and I saw it was a 29 gallon!

It was pretty dirty and needed some good old fashion scrubbing. And I needed to fill it and test for leaks. Here is what it looked like when I brought it all home.

Cleaned up great and is just waiting for fish!! I have two new filters sitting in the cupboard so I will use one of those instead of the one that came with it. I see it is only rated for 40 gallons, so not big enough, but will be a good "spare" to keep on hand. I also already have a heater, plants etc....so I have everything to get it going.

I have somewhat of a partial plan, but will need suggestions/opinions to complete the plan.

What I am thinking of doing is moving all my smallest fish from the 46 into the 29 gallon. The Neons, Harleys, Guppies and one of the GBRs. (three is too many in the 46 gallon) Also one of the Apple Snails and then either the Ottos, or the Cories. Not sure on which one.

What I really want to do in the 46 gallon is finish the stocking with just larger fish. Like 3"-4" fish. After moving the smaller fish it would be left with 1 Sailfin Molly, one Angel fish, 2 German Blue Rams, and probably the 5 Panda Cories. My current thoughts are either adding some more Sailfin Mollies (I LOVE my Golden Sailfin!!!) or adding Rosy Barbs. I saw some of these at the fish store last time I was there and fell for them big time!

For now I will start fishless cycling the 29 gallon while I think through this whole process. I will take some cycled media out of one of the two filters on the 46 gallon, plus I have the sponges from the quarantine tank hiding in the 46 gallon to use to help jump start it.

So, I have water in the tank! Here is a picture with all it's newly filled bubbly look.filled.jpg

I plan to change the subtrate in the 46 gallon when I move the fish. I haven't decided for sure yet if I want white, black, or the "salt and pepper' mix. It has a black background. But I figured I would take out half of the current pebbles and put them in the 29 Gallon, so I did that this evening as well. I also put a considerable amount of cycled media in the filter. I am using a new Aqueon Quiet Flow 50. It is really nice and I especially like that it is self priming! I dosed the tank up to .50 Ammonia and will test it tomorrow to see if it is gone. Fingers are crossed for a quick cycle with all the seeded media and subtrate.

Since I had an unoccupied tank, I took the opportunity to test a couple filters. I tested the smaller one that came with the tank and it worked fine. It will be a nice backup to have on hand. I also tested a Aqueon Quiet Flow 55/75. (Rated up to 90 gallons) I was given this filter from the product/inventory manager at work because it had been returned by a customer who stated it did not work. He was going to just throw it and asked me first if I wanted it to see if I could get it working. Of course I took it. I put this on the 29 gallon tonight to test it out. For the few minutes I had it running it worked GREAT! That bad boy turns some water! Had some awesome rapids going in that 29 gallon. It is possible I would have had to run it longer before any "problem" showed with it, but it seemed to work fine when I tested it. Not sure what I will do with one that big but I will keep it in case my dream of a 75 gallon comes true some day.

So now I just wait for the cycle to complete, and mull over what I want for new fish in the 46 gallon. Speaking of that......I was thinking I would probably quarantine the new fish in the 29 gallon as long as it is unoccupied anyway. I am hoping they will be 3"-4" fish so they would not fit in the 5 gallon.......

Well I got quite a pleasant surprise this evening when I tested the water. (I dosed it to .50 with ammonia 20 hours prior) I had 0 Ammonia, 0 nitrite and 5 nitrates! I figured it would cycle quickly with all the seeded media I put in, but I thought it would be a couple days. I gave it a tiny bit of ammonia to keep the BB fed another 24 hours. We are headed to "the big city" tomorrow after work to get fish. Other then a Wal-Mart and a very tiny LFS that carries very little variety, we are 1 hour away from anyplace else that sell fish. I hope to find some healthy Rosy Barbs, and about 4-5 Harleys to join my other 3 Harleys after quarantine time. I just don't know how many Rosy Barbs I could put into the 46 gallon after I make the switcharoo with all the smaller fish.

I also need to have a plan B in case I can't find the Rosy Barbs so I don't make an impulse buy. I saw some beauties for Rosy barbs last time we were there to get the Angle fish so my hopes are high! I was thinking plan B will be Boesemani Rainbows. Does anyone have any concerns about either the Rosy Barbs or the Rainbows eventually going in a 46 gallon? They would end up in the 46 gallon with 2 GBRs, 1 Angel fish, 1 male Golden Sailfin Molly, and 5 Panda Cories.

I put some "place holders" in the 29 gallon tonight because I hate looking at an empty tank! LOL!! They are mostly just rejects or things I replaced from my 46 gallon for now. I will pick some more attractive things up at the fish store tomorrow. Here is what it looks like tonight:

Pretty BLAH right now.

When I was adding the artificial deco this evening I started thinking how much I would like to try live plants. Maybe this would be a good time and good tank to try a few on. All the fish that will end up in there are small and from what I've read are plant safe! I don't know anything about the lighting on either tank, but I do know the lights on the 29 are MUCH brighter, with a whiter light than the 46 gallon. Just appears to be a better plant growing light. But then again, as I said, I don't know anything about them!

sounds like you're off to a great start. I wouldn't, however, go with the bosemani rainbows. they require a much larger tank. I passed on them for my 90 gallon because I was afraid there would not be enough room for them. they are very active swimmers and prefer a very large tank.

If the LFS doesn't have rosy barbs, maybe they would have cherry barbs?
Or if you're a tetra fan, come Colombian tetras (often labeled red and blue tetra) would be nice in the 46 gallon. they are very peaceful fish and very showy.
let us know what you decide

That tank is looking good. Your right though, it would look better with some live plants in it. A 29 gallon is just right for growing live plants with normal lighting. What grew well in my 29 gallon did poorly in my 55 gallon. The only difference was the depth of the tank. The light just didn't get there so I had to upgrade for the deeper tank.
If your going to try live plants go for the low to medium light plants as a start. Try some java fern or an anubius. Read up on how to anchor them. My java was tied with fishing line to a piece of slate for example. These both did really well in my 29 gallon and hooked me into other plants like swords. The other thing to remember with live plants, soak them in something to kill off stuff like snail eggs. Nothing worse then introducing pond snails into a nice tank. Alum does a nice job, you'll find it in the grocery store spice section. There are posts on this board by members on how to dose it with your new plants.
Looking good dlee.